I expect we can all remember lovely summer days when we tried to see how brown we could get before the end of the holiday. That was in the days before warnings about the damage we were doing to our skin, the increasing effectiveness of sun blockers and availability of fake tans. And yet still we love to look at bronzed bodies. I can remember sunny holidays on the Adriatic coast of Italy in the 1950's when the only white body was that of a Fiat factory worker on holiday with his family. Everybody else was gloriously bronzed. Even in the 70's with that glorious hot summer of 76 when I only wore a pair of shorts and sandals all day long on the farm and thought nothing of any side effects. It was as bad as using lethal insecticides such as Lindane and DDT without really worrying about safety equipment. Well, one didn't and no one had before and the warnings were not there.
Comeuppance
So, some thirty five years later the laissez faire attitude caught up with me. Those rodents we have on our skin can so easily transmute into ugly monsters capable of dealing death to the owner. I had an itchy mole on my right shoulder that I couldn't see but seemed to warrant a call on my local doctor. He took one look at it and arranged for me to see a surgeon in the local hospital. A couple of days later I was having a bi-lingual conversation in French and English about rugby football while it felt as though the surgeon was excavating deep into my shoulder. The biopsy proved positive so I was glad to have got rid of that one. I had another on my right forearm removed a couple of weeks before leaving France. 'Can you come in on Monday as I am off on a fortnight's holiday?' asked the surgeon. This was only a couple of days after seeing my doctor who had had to search around for an available surgeon.
Symptoms
Why I am inclined to take care of transmuting rodents is quite obvious as I am still here to tell the tale. The one on my back I could not see, but from the one on my forearm I could tell they were showing the obvious symptoms. Itchy and slightly larger with a redness showing round the edge. I don't think you need a clearer sign than that. Unfortunately my eldest daughter did not heed the signs and a transmuted mole on her leg caused a painful death.
All I would say to all those hedonists of the fifties to seventies is that you may not be immune and to take your itchy moles to the doctor straight away. It is better to be safe than sorry. Don't just hope it will get better on its own.
Richard Poupart 2011
I expect we can all remember lovely summer days when we tried to see how brown we could get before the end of the holiday. That was in the days before warnings about the damage we were doing to our skin, the increasing effectiveness of sun blockers and availability of fake tans. And yet still we love to look at bronzed bodies. I can remember sunny holidays on the Adriatic coast of Italy in the 1950's when the only white body was that of a Fiat factory worker on holiday with his family. Everybody else was gloriously bronzed. Even in the 70's with that glorious hot summer of 76 when I only wore a pair of shorts and sandals all day long on the farm and thought nothing of any side effects. It was as bad as using lethal insecticides such as Lindane and DDT without really worrying about safety equipment. Well, one didn't and no one had before and the warnings were not there.
Comeuppance
So, some thirty five years later the laissez faire attitude caught up with me. Those rodents we have on our skin can so easily transmute into ugly monsters capable of dealing death to the owner. I had an itchy mole on my right shoulder that I couldn't see but seemed to warrant a call on my local doctor. He took one look at it and arranged for me to see a surgeon in the local hospital. A couple of days later I was having a bi-lingual conversation in French and English about rugby football while it felt as though the surgeon was excavating deep into my shoulder. The biopsy proved positive so I was glad to have got rid of that one. I had another on my right forearm removed a couple of weeks before leaving France. 'Can you come in on Monday as I am off on a fortnight's holiday?' asked the surgeon. This was only a couple of days after seeing my doctor who had had to search around for an available surgeon.
Symptoms
Why I am inclined to take care of transmuting rodents is quite obvious as I am still here to tell the tale. The one on my back I could not see, but from the one on my forearm I could tell they were showing the obvious symptoms. Itchy and slightly larger with a redness showing round the edge. I don't think you need a clearer sign than that. Unfortunately my eldest daughter did not heed the signs and a transmuted mole on her leg caused a painful death.
All I would say to all those hedonists of the fifties to seventies is that you may not be immune and to take your itchy moles to the doctor straight away. It is better to be safe than sorry. Don't just hope it will get better on its own.
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